DID YOU MISS US??

                                                             Picking up our Pumpkin!

                                                      Happy Halloween! Cupcakes anyone.

                                                                   Birthday Princess!

                                                             Wow! Is that for me!

I'm ready for my birthday party!

                                                                     Princess Lily!

Yes, we are still alive and well.  We've just been so busy since the summer I haven't had much time to blog so I'll try and recap the last few months to update you all.

July/August -  Well we moved into our new home and love it.  It took us a few months to settle and unpack but it now feels like home.  We have lots of walking trails in the area and the best part is that most days (when the weather permits) I come home from work and park the car and walk to the daycare to pick up Lily and we catch up while walking home.  It's wonderful.  

September - It was back to regular daycare and Lily's french has come a long way.  She understands it all and actually loves going to the daycare.  Big change from last September.  She discovered Princesses and is hooked.  I have a very girlie girl who knows what she likes in clothing.  We love dresses, dresses and dresses (or a skirt if we must).  Tights (or pantyhose as she calls them) and anything with sparkles and the flowier the dresses the better but please no and I mean no pants please.  Apparently pants and bows are the enemy.  Who knew!

October -  A BIG month.  We turned 3 and we take every opportunity to tell Maman that we are a "Big Girl" now.  They keep telling you that the terrible two's are hard well those people wrote that before they lived out the three's.  We are testing out personalities and for the most part, we choose the sweet funny silly ones but once in a while, Oh Boy! we find one with attitude that we are testing out and needless to say, Maman puts that one back in the corner as quickly as she can! and then she has a glass of wine!! :)

November -  We attended our first "Rememberance Day" celebration, had breakfast with Santa and was thrilled to see him and had no issues sitting on his lap.  We also bought a new car.  Just like the house, it happened pretty quickly but we love our new Ford Escape.

December -  We started off the month with colds but it was our first in ages so I think our resistance is up.  Last year by this time, we had already had several.  Big news - George, our Elf on the Shelf arrived and has been keeping guard.  So far, he's had good reports for Santa.  We are all ready for the holidays.  Maman is spending this weekend with Noncle for their annual weekend in Sudbury and Lily will be spending the weekend with her friend Iris and they are both excited about the sleepover.  PS.  So is Maman.  A weekend of shopping, movies and catching up with her brother is always one of the highlight of the year.  Next week Pa Pa Pa is arriving for a 2 week visit for the holidays.  It will only be the three of us this year but we still plan on doing the full blown celebration.  Pending no unplanned trips to the hospital like last year, it should be a good Christmas and Maman is looking forward to the break from work.

Well, hopefully that catches you up on some of our adventures.  Again apologies for not posting in so long.  I will try my best to post more often in the new Year.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the Best for 2013!

Love Lily and Maman.

DRESS UP/ MOVING / WEDDING - OH MY!!

Hi Everyone!!

We have a few things to update you since our last posting. 

We Girls are on the move!!

After an extensive search of one day, we have found ourselves a new home.  It was a fluke that we (well Aunt Rebecca) found it as we we're even looking but it's in a neighborhood that we had looked at before and there was an open house.  We went to see it and three days later we had bought the new house and sold our old one.  It was quite a whirlwind but we are very excited and can't wait to get into the new place at the end of June. 

One of the best parts about this new place is that it's within walking distance to Lily's daycare/school and will take 40 minutes off our daily commute.  Whoo Hoo!!  Maman is thrilled about that.

So since then we have spent most of our free time packing, packing and guess what, packing!  We've made good progress but still have much to do.  It's amazing how much stuff one accumulates after 12 years and the Goodwill Store knows us by name we've made so many drop-offs in the last few weeks.  Pay it forward!!

This past weekend, we did no packing.  Noncle and Tante made a surprise stop on their way to Paris.  Lucky people!! so we got to visit with them for a day and then yesterday, Lily had the honour of being a flower girl at Amanda and Justin's wedding.  She looked beautiful, performed her flower girl duties like a big girl and charmed all the boys.  She is definitely my daughter because we couldn't get her off the dance floor once the music started.  She had a blast and so did Maman.

Congratulations Amanda and Justin!!  Thanks for making us a part of the celebrations.

Here are a few pics we've taken over the last few weeks.  We'll be in touch in a separate email with our new address and particulars. 

Have a great week and I'll try and post again soon.

Love to all.  Maman and Lily

                                                            Playing Dress-Up!!

                                                                  Second Look!

                                                           Making Bubbles!!

                                                                Smiling for Noncle

                                                                Pretty Flower Girl!

                                                              Practicing with the basket.

                                                                I'm a Princess!!!

                                                         Dancing won't be a problem!

                                                   Ready for a Wedding!

HAPPY EASTER!!

Hi All,

All is well with our Family.  The warmer weather certainly has us playing outside more and more.  Lily is desperately trying to work her tricycle but her little legs are just not quite long enough.  Hopefully she'll get there by the end of the summer.

We had a quiet but lovely long Easter weekend.   We went to see the Easter Bunny at the mall with Iris and her Mom and truly enjoyed the egg hunt at home. Easter day was so nice we hopped in the car and spent the afternoon at the zoo, came home and then had some of our treats from the Easter Bunny. 

I've attached some pictures from the last few months.  Enjoy and have a great spring.

          Learning to Drive!

                                                                       Hi Maman!!!

                                                              Harry Potter Anyone??

                                                               I love my bubble bath!

                                                               Dressed myself today!

First attempt at using chopsticks.

Thank you Aunty Shelly for my bunny cookie.  It was yummy!

                                                                Off to the races!

                                                               Look what I got Mom!!

GOTCHA ANNIVERSARY!!

Can you believe that Lily and I have been a family for a whole year!!  I can't, but I also can't remember life without her.  We spent this special weekend in Timmins with the family.  They have tons of snow and the weather was fabulous so we got to play outside alot.   Of course, Lily was spoiled rotten by everyone and got to spend some quality time with each of them.
She was a real trooper on the plane and is a pretty good traveller provided you keep her busy and feed her snacks.  Maman also has to admit that flying for an hour and a half is soooo much better than driving for 10 hours. 

I just want to thank everyone for following us on this wonderful journey this past year and also thank you for your wonderful cards, gifts, messages etc.  Lily and I are very blessed to have you all in our lives.    It has been the best year of my life and I am looking forward to the next 50 or so and the new adventures they will bring for us.  I spent a few minutes going back to the original posts from a year ago and it amazes me how far that little girl who was handed to me in the lobby of the hotel in Nanchang has come in only a year.  I can't imagine and can't wait to see what she can accomplish going forward.    I love you "That Much" Baby Girl!!!  and Maman will always be there for you every step of the way.

Going forward, you will probably only see posts for milestones but keep checking because you never know what we've been up to.

Here are some recent photos.  Enjoy!

Making Valentine's Cookies!  They were yummy!

Helping Noncle play crib.  They beat Pa Pa Pa!

Trying sledding for the first time.  Whee!!!!

We are loving the snow!

A year has flown by. Not a baby anymore!

Hello!

Hi All!!
We've had a busy couple of weeks with visitors.  We had lovely visits and caught up with a few people.

Maman also had her first grown up night without Lily.  Aunt Leslie was wonderful to come spend the evening with her and even put her to bed.  It was a little rough at first but she finally settled down and all was good.    While all this was happening Maman went out for a wonderful evening of good company, good food and wine.  She got all dressed up, wore her high heel boots and used a purse that didn't have pull-ups or raisins in it.  Very exciting!!

This weekend we are going to make Valentine cookies and get our valentines ready for daycare and then the next weekend we are off to Timmins for their "Winter Carnival".  There will be snow but hopefully the weather won't be too cold.  

Stay tuned for those pictures but here are a few to tide you over!

                                                              Recovering from the Flu!

                                               We're all better now and chillin in our chair.

                                                        Go Leafs Go!!!  Thanks Aunt Denise
                                                          & Uncle Tim for my new jersey!
                                                                  Pa Pa Pa will love it

                                                               Shopping Anyone!!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!

                                It's the year of the Dragon!!!  

We celebrated our first Chinese New Year as a family with a party.  We decorated the house with lanterns and invited our friends to come over for some food and celebrating.  The kids ate all kinds of chinese candies and treats and ran around the house playing with all the toys, clothes and anything they could find.  Lily changed outfits 4 times and even shared her clothes with Iris and Amelia.  I don't think she sat for more than 2 seconds and was completely exhausted by bedtime so needless to say she had a blast.  We hope to make this celebration an annual event.

Other than that, we've just been getting back to a routine after the holidays.  Pa Pa Pa is back home and feeling better.  Lily is enjoying being back at daycare. 

Have a great week. 

Looking up a recipe on my computer! 

                                                         I still love my rocking horse!

                                     Good Luck and Good Fortune for 2012!

Love The Dragon (Maman) and The Ox (Lily)!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy New Years everyone. 

Lily and I rang in the New Year in a low key fashion.  We went to visit PaPaPa at the hospital in the afternoon and he's looking much better than this time last week.  We then picked up some fast food on the way home and since we both still have colds (the never ending colds) we brought out the hats and horns around 7:30 pm., made some noise and then off to bed Lily went.  Maman wasn't too far behind a few hours later.   We are such party animals but at least I didn't wake up with a hangover!!

We wish you all a wonderful 2012 and may it bring all that you desire.

Love Lily and Marie

                                              We had our first snow and learned to shovel!

                                       Happy New Year!

MEMORABLE HOLIDAYS TO SAY THE LEAST!

Well, Christmas has come and gone and oh boy, are we going to remember this one, and not just because it was Lily's first Christmas. 

It started off great.  PaPaPa arrived and Maman finished her last minute baking and errands.  MonOncle and his clan arrived later in the week and all was good.  Now PaPaPa had not been feeling great but we assumed he had a touch of the flu or getting the cold that's been making the rounds. 

Christmas Eve arrived and we were ready for Santa.  We got all dressed up and then went off to church.  We came home after early mass and Lily experienced her first Christmas with an early reveillon dinner and then we all changed into our jammies and the unwrapping began.  Lily was thrilled with all her loot and as expected, she was spoiled rotten by everyone.  She even helped everyone else open their presents.   We spent the rest of the evening looking at all the gifts and then went off to bed at a reasonable hour. 

Fast forward to 4:00 am.  Maman woke up to the sounds of someone awake downstairs.  Went to see if it was Santa coming back but no, it was PaPaPa propped up on the couch having  difficulty breathing and not looking well in the least.  At this point, 911 was called and off to the hospital we went.  Well, we are now 8 days later, and PaPaPa is still there.  It appears that he had a mild heart attack last week and it caused fluid to accumulate on his lungs hence the difficulty breathing.  He was in the Cardiac Intensive Care unit for about 7 days but was moved to the regular cardiac unit yesterday.  He is scheduled for an angioplasty early next week and should be ready to come home by Thursday.  Fingers crossed.    He gave all of us quite a scare and you can be sure we won't forget this Christmas for a long time but at this point, he's on the mend and should be home soon.  This is certainly excitement we could have all done without.

Anyways, we are very thankful that he will be all right and back to his old self soon (and we know he's on the mend because he's back to being grumpy). 

Hope your Christmas was less eventful but good none the less.  Here are some pictures of the joyous moments.

                                                            Here we go.  First present!

                                                   Chillin with our new leapfrog laptop!

                                                       Now I can finally make a good cup
                                                          of coffee in my new kitchen.

                                                         We love the rocking horse Miss Sarah
                                                         gave us.  It even makes noises and moves
                                                         its ears and tail.